


Nocturne - Sforzando

by FlyingPendragon



Series: Nocturne [3]
Category: Final Fantasy IX
Genre: M/M, Referenced Torture, referenced sexual abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:55:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26209789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyingPendragon/pseuds/FlyingPendragon
Summary: Kuja wakes from unconsciousness in the Iifa Tree, saved by a figure from his past.
Relationships: Kuja/Amarant Coral
Series: Nocturne [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1900582
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> I guess I kinda lied about posting things as they were completed. Reveille's gonna take a while and this COVID crap is getting me stressed out.
> 
> On with the fics! And remember, FFIX is not mine. I'm not that talented.
> 
> \- FlyingPendragon -

_ Waking up after everyone thought he was dead, including himself...anxious affair. Staring blankly into a dark-rimmed pair of eyes, mostly hidden by coarse brows and heavy crimson dreadlocks...shock to the brain. Smelling the ale, sweat, and grime on the mercenary's frame...quiver to the stomach and everything south of it. _

Amarant blinked, slowly——watched Kuja where he loomed over him, seven feet and some of slum-roaming human. "Almost swear you were awake," he muttered. "Eh. You open your eyes so often I'm tempted to talk to you...look like something a Zaghnol puked up."

"...You're one t-to talk...," the Genome managed, even the candlelight around him too heavy to take.

_ "Wh——?" _ Now it was the monk's turn to stare. "You  _ are _ awake. I was hoping I hadn't found a corpse in that fucking tree...." Laughing, he sank down beside Kuja in whatever they were lying on. "Ah, kid, you had me worried. Shit."

The mage touched on something there...the smell of him. If he remembered it with a bit of alcohol, traces of clandestine materials.... "Salamander."

"Yeah. They did call me that at one point...very few people. A young noble named Anchorite told me I reminded him of a fire-nosed skink.... Nice kid. Blonde, fancy little fairy of a man...King's son, though I'm sure the old man never actually had any."

"...No, he adopted a fifteen-year-old who was already six-six. Easy enough to dye that beautiful pale hair, curl it, hide his feathers under a golden-lined black hat...."

Silence.

"You forgot...," he whispered. "Not that I blame you. I look so different, and you never saw my tail."

Amarant turned to face him. "All this time I wondered——I never knew what happened to you. And when Sisyphus fired me, he said you didn't need me bothering you...that I wasn't the 'type' you should be making friends with." One enormous hand reached to cup Kuja's cheek. "You're not feverish anymore...I'll get you to Ipsen's Castle. You'll be safer away from here, where you're alone and protected...."

"Am I in Treno?"

"Yeah. The slums. I didn't know whether Sisyphus would turn you in...so I put you here in my neck of the woods, pulled out your feathers, and cut your hair off. I don't want you going anywhere. I don't want Cid finding and hanging you. There's a literal bounty on your head in Lindblum, and if you weren't in a safe place, you'd be fucked." Amarant glanced out the window; they were in the topmost floor of somewhere. "No one in Treno even knows you have a tail. Beatrix has never seen it."

"Neither have Cid or Hilda. But he knows I'm Zidane's brother, I imagine."

"Never came up. He just wanted everyone to be on the lookout for you." The human leaned close to Kuja's ear. "Zidane and the others had a secret pact...if any of us found you, we were to bring you to Ipsen's Castle and keep you safe. Tantalus as a whole isn't involved; the Genomes are. None of them want you hanged and they'll lie to anyone they have to. Mikoto is quietly moving anyone she can out there to prepare."

The idea he could even be killed terrified him. If Iifa hadn't done it, could Cid? Garland had mentioned a 'limited lifespan'...but where did that limit lie? How long? And why did he somehow feel the planet's life coursing beneath him?

"...Tot found something scary inside you, kid. You literally have no idea how Garland limited you, right? I do...it ain't pretty. You might've gotten an idea when you Tranced."

When he'd Tranced, his pauldrons, boots, minor armor.... They'd turned into a bark-like substance, some perversion of wood and synthesized leathers. Everything weaker had just disappeared beneath swaths of down, absorbed into his skin, or ripped apart.

Bark.... "Oh no."

"In your head. The back of it. Garland fed you Mist to give you a soul, right? The weirdest seed we have ever seen pierced something called the  _ dura mater _ and a root is going straight down your spine. You're the next incarnation of the Iifa Tree. Tot says it's actually symbiotic...it knows you're its host, and if it kills you, it dies too. Trance made you something between man and tree."

"So I'm a Dryad, then," Kuja murmured, almost laughing but wanting to scream. "And if Cid hangs me, my corpse will kill the planet."

"That's about the first part. But it gets weirder."

The mage held his head.  _ "How _ could this get any  _ weirder?" _

"You also have an eidolon."

Now he covered his mouth; that scream almost escaped from it. What emerged was a muffled, dissonant squeak through his nose. "Are you fucking  _ kidding _ me?"

"Nope. Alexander."

His heart sank. The one metaphysical power he'd always wanted...and in his weakest state he had it. "...What irony."

"Yeah." Amarant edged closer, slid an arm around Kuja's shoulders. "But while you're here I ain't letting you outta my sight."

At least there was that. He nestled into the hold. "So where am I?"

"Red Duchess. A brothel is the last place they'd look for you." He smelled like other things in this close range too...tobacco, a passing flit of perfume. 

Almost made the Genome want to erase it in favor of his own...just to see. What would his scent do to the roughnecked man who'd guarded him years ago? And why did Amarant lean in, smell his close-cropped hair?

"You've been asleep a while. Want a bath?"

Heaven. "I would absolutely  _ love _ a nice hot bath...if you'll sit with me and tell me what I've missed."

  
  


**‡**

  
  


Nice kid. Screwed up in the head, but ultimately a nice kid.

They'd opened the biggest room they could; the sunken, squared tub would barely fit both men if he joined Kuja, but the girls had filled it with oils, a pitcher of cream...and boiling water, which by now just sent a thick, sweet vapor through the room.

One of those folding screens sat in front of it, paneled in linen gauze. Kuja stood behind it, head and shoulders showing, stripping off the simple robe Amarant had found. Pale eyes drifted to look at him.

"Thank you."

"Yeah." Why not? Zidane had barely made it out after the root beneath them collapsed...Kuja had begged him just to go, to leave the mage behind. He'd told his brother he had Garnet, he had a life to live.

After Amarant had found Lani with Cid, there'd been no future for them anymore. She'd chosen her path, and he'd remembered Kuja.

He'd been unconscious by the shore, far below the cliff. Washed up, stinking of sea water...but breathing. Amarant had hedged his bets on the Genome being alive.

And here he was weeks later, naked, slipping into a hot bath. There was something erotic about that man-child.

_ "I missed you." _

He looked up at the screen. Candlelight showed the subtle turn of Kuja's head. "What'd you say, kid?"

"I said I missed you." That shadow curved. "You're three years older than me, Salamander. I'm not a child." But maybe he might understand, by his gentle, almost sighing laughter. "I'll concede I do act like one."

"Nah. You just didn't get to be one. You looked like that at fifteen...from the first day. I used to be a runt. Hell, you were bigger at two years old than I was at  _ fifteen." _ He found a laugh rising in his chest. "And you grow to be  _ this _ tall when you Trance."

The water folded around Kuja's body. "It's an awkward, ravenous height. My bones still hurt." One hand showed under the gap in the screen. "...Come over here. It's hard to talk with you there."

"Sure." Amarant had already had to strip him to clean his wounds. Steiner had damn near chopped his right leg off, Vivi had burned him all to hell, and the fact he was even alive was a goddamn miracle.

The floral musk he'd always smelled around Kuja filled his senses; behind the screen, it wound through the air like mana-tinged smoke. Sandalwood and frankincense had been added to the bath water——but this? This was the mage  _ himself. _ It lured him closer, crept into his sinuses.... To where Kuja's catlike stare riveted to his, long curvy lashes prettier than all the women's here.

"Damn." That beauty hit him like a brick.

Thin brows lifted. "You're staring." Those full lips parted, showing even white teeth behind them. Why  _ was _ he staring, anyway?

"Sorry." Too much whiskey, or something. He sat by the tub.

The water was so hot. It beaded sweat along Kuja's china-pale skin. "You look like you could use a bath yourself." Teasing him.... "Well? Take your clothes off. Get in here. We do have to spend some time together."

No impulse control whatsoever in the guy. "You're right. We do." His fingers struggled with the buttons of his vest——suddenly too hot in here. Had to be the bath.

Kuja watched, brows lowering, an annoyed expression crossing his face. "Oh, for Necron's sakes." Rising, ignoring his nakedness, he grabbed for the leather and tore.

Buttons sprinkled onto the floor, one disappearing into the water. The Genome's long, thin fingers splayed over his chest...soft digits, a gentle touch. He looked up into Amarant's eyes.

"I'll fix them later.... When we have the time to figure things out. Now take your trousers and boots off, and get in here."

He fought the urge to stroke that smooth face. "Yeah." Why the fuck was his heart thundering like this?

"Don't keep me waiting," Kuja murmured, an almost musical tone in his voice. "I must thank you for getting me out...I told Zidane he had better places to be, his canary would need him. Falling in love with a queen requires effort."

"Wouldn't know. I'm unattached right now." He turned away and fumbled with laces, belts and everything else, stripping most of it off. "Naked, huh?"

"I've seen you in a fundoshi. You flatter them." The quiet, caressing reply made him sure he had to keep it on. Or he would, if those fingers hadn't reached for the fabric, unwinding it....

"Hey. C'mon."

"The only way we differ is my tail. You think I'm afraid of someone else's cock?" Kuja's hands were quicker than his...making short work of the undergarment, leaving him bared to the room. "Come in here."

"Turn around first." He couldn't believe his nerves. "You're kinda fancy. Rather not shock ya."

"Oh, fuck that." Those hands pulled his hips. "In.  _ Now." _

He slipped on the edge——fell in with a coarse splash. Landed on his ass, on something that moved. Tail. 

For his part, Kuja had actually turned for him...he rose enough to readjust and leaned back, watching the curve of the mage's spine. Further down, his muscles showed circular burns, or punctures.... And long, healing slashes, where the monk's Kaiser Knuckles had caused their own ruin.

"Looks like they still hurt." He barely touched one with a fingertip. Those shoulders stiffened. "Maybe the other ones bug you more."

Kuja's hand shook on the tub's edge. "I can't really talk about them." 

Garland, then. That had to be how he'd filled his creation with Mist, and enough power and madness to nearly kill them all....

"Don't have to. Everyone keeps their secrets."

"Like you, and me...Back in 1791. When you showed up and King told you who your work was really for."

**‡**

_ "He's secretive, that lovely lad of mine.... I want nothing to happen to him. Do not allow a hair on his head to be harmed." _

_ "Sure." Anchorite had to be a delicate guy. Fifteen years old, blonde-haired, curled and powdered. The sweet, almost musky smell floating from the balcony had to be his cologne. "Anything else, sir?" _

_ "Whatever he asks," A gloved finger pointed in his face, "do it. I will not suffer my son to be unhappy for a moment. If he desires your blood, you bleed. If he wants you to sing, you had better sing." _

_ "You're payin' me more than enough, King. Not a damn thing'll happen." _

_ "Good. I'll send Sisyphus with refreshments...stay here, and keep watch." _

_ Boring job, but it could be worse. Nobody bothered him——just walked by, murmuring.... Long as they didn't harass him, he had no reason to hurt them. Lionworth and his wife walked slowly by, looking briefly at him, the balcony...then, simply strolled away. _

"Lovely evening, as usual...."

_ He raised his head, unsure of the voice's gender or who they were talking to. "Yeah, can't complain. Nice job, cool night.... Nobody's really bugging me." _

_ A chain sang against the wall...lowering, something heavy hung at the end. Amarant looked up and found a bottle——blue-violet glass, dark liquid filling it nearly to the top. "...What the hell's this?" _

_ "Fortified tea. You must be thirsty." The white-gloved hand lowering the bottle moved...a curly-ended black hat came into view, wide brim giving way to blonde curls and beautiful blue eyes. "So you're the man looking after me. I really must thank you." _

_ "Not a problem. Lord Anchorite, right?" _

_ "Just Anchorite will do." What a goddamn beautiful boy. Rouged cheeks and lips, long kohl-blackened lashes. "And you're the famous Salamander. I was hoping Father would find me someone strong...he certainly did." _

_ Amarant unhooked the bottle, flexing a bit. Mostly for show...it did make those eyes light up. "Don't worry about a thing. I gotcha covered." A pull of the cork, a deep swallow.... Whatever this tea had been fortified with sent soothing warmth into his belly. "Damn. Nice job." _

_ "Working sober bores me. I thought if  I was going to have a little something...." Another little something spread hazy trails around his head. "It's a trifle too early for laudanum. Hungry?" _

_ He could eat. "Don't wanna impose." _

_ "Certainly not! Hold on." The chain pulled up. Amarant drank more tea, trying to determine what Anchorite had added. Behind him the door opened; the auctioneer peered out with a soft frown. _

_ "Is everything as it should be, Lord Anchorite?" he called up to the balcony, in a high and nauseatingly snooty tone. _

_ The chain descended, a cloth-covered basket latched to it. "Come now, Sisyphus. Everything's fine; I just wanted to share some of my delights with our dear friend Salamander Coral." Thankfully, the man assisted his delivery, carefully removing the basket to set it there. "He'll have a long night, he needs to be fed...." Nicer tone, almost like a woman's over her child. _

_ "Naturally, sire." Sisyphus gave Amarant an odd frown. "You will, of course, take very good care of our Lord Anchorite.... He'll be the conservator of Treno someday. We mustn't let anything happen to him." _

_ "Nothin' will. Nice guy like him? Everybody loves him." Amarant lifted the cloth——pastries, grapes, a huge wedge of cheese, and a smooth clay pipe. The contents didn't escape his guard. "Hell. I don't ordinarily get such fancy food." _

_ "Do eat every bit." Finally Sisyphus turned away, and headed back to the mansion. "If you need me, my Lord, I will be at my post." _

_ "Oh, go rest! You can't be awake all night...I'm in good hands." Anchorite giggled like a schoolboy, starry eyes twinkling as he watched his new bodyguard. "He wouldn't let a horsefly bite me." _

_ "Got that shot right," Amarant returned around a mouthful of cheese. _


	2. II

"And this one?"

"Serpion bite. That one?"

"A bit of a skirmish with multiple Cactuar." Deep swallow of tea. Nothing else in it this time, but enough in the bottle to soothe. "Oh, Amarant, look at the moon...This is the first time I've stayed awake long enough to really admire it, and the first time I've seen only  _ one." _ A faraway, twinkling lance in the sky told of how close they were to Alexandria.

The human turned, subtle grin on that coarsely shaven face. "You like that kind of romantic mush, don'tcha? No surprise there."

"I wanted to invite you up to my chamber so often." A sigh rose to Kuja's lips. "You were the first person I considered a friend. Sisyphus helped me because he had to.... You could've been anywhere else and  _ chose _ to guard me."

He grunted. "How do you figure that?"

"Are you kidding?" One hand pulled Amarant's dreadlocks behind his shoulder. "I looked like too much maintenance, like a spoiled brat. And you didn't care." Gently he raised a sponge to wash dried mud——or something else——from one thick, bluish shoulder. "These muscles. You've worked so hard to look the way you do."

"G'wan. I'm an ape." But his shoulders shook with quiet mirth. "You have a way of surprising people, Kuja."

"So do you," the Genome whispered. The bath had long gone cool; all the heat was in his face now. "I never thought I would have the leisure to enjoy something like this. A peaceful night, under the stars. The city I love, through different eyes. Thank you."

Amarant turned...away from the window, looking into Kuja's eyes. "Yeah. No problem." Something hung in his features there.... Strange lot, human beings. Full of emotions. 

He never thought he'd envy them. But his hand covered Amarant's larger one where it rested.

"King died," the older man murmured, "about three months ago. So you're technically the conservator of Treno now.... If they even want you to be."

His heart sank. "Did he suffer...?" How terrible that he couldn't be there. How awful that the noble whose generosity had saved him was gone.

Amarant shook his head. "He said he loved you. And he knew who you really were...he's the reason I found you as soon as I did. I told him I would." His hand slipped from under Kuja's, changed their places. "I mean, hell. I promised him I'd take care of you. And he did pay me well while I worked there."

"Don't bullshit me, Salamander. You had more reasons than just your job."

That grin reemerged. He closed his eyes.

"You were the reason I went with Zidane as far as I did. After a while I'd gotten kinda weary of the guy. But seeing you stirred something up in me. I guess I might've known it was you before I did, you know? If you hadn't remembered us when you woke up, I wasn't gonna say a word...wouldn't have been worth bringing up painful memories."

What an infectious smile...the way his face actually moved with it. "It may be harder to keep me safe now. But I definitely need a bodyguard...." Kuja gently stroked his crimson chinstrap beard, feeling that firm jaw underneath, barely tracing his lips.

"Business as usual." A deep sigh stretched that broad ribcage. "You never used to touch me. Somethin' change?"

"Maybe...." He slowly leaned in, pressed his lips to Amarant's. A fleeting brush. Nothing bold...but here, in the quiet and under Treno's sky, it fit. He drew back.

"My apologies. I was curious...." As if that explained anything. The monk stared at him, brows raised above half-hooded eyes.

"So am I." Those enormous hands cupped his face.

Kuja's gasp had only a second of sound before Amarant drank it, sealing their mouths together. His heart tripped beats at a thick human tongue sweeping his lips, urging them open——hot breath flooding behind.

He huffed air as the monk tasted him, tongue teasing his with forceful flicks...leaning back, guiding Kuja to his lap. Wouldn't do to have the heavier man crushing him, would it? But those arms invited more. The thighs he straddled held power between them. 

"If you're gonna kiss me," Amarant growled, "kiss me like you mean it."

"So we're playing that way, are we?" He couldn't help but slide his hands down the human's hard belly. "And here you didn't want to be naked in front of me."

"I've thought of fucking you since my first day on the job. You're goddamn beautiful. But after you almost destroyed the planet, I didn't think telling you was the smartest idea. Look at you...you're a work of art. People don't just fill a masterpiece with dick."

Kuja trailed fingernails up those tight muscles, to Amarant's chest...drawing a deep, pleasured hiss. "You said you were unattached.... Does this mean you left her?"

"I don't want to deal with anyone Cid's banging. Seen enough of that in my lifetime already. Besides...if I was with her, she'd turn you in. He wants you dead and doesn't care how." Hands covered his. "You have better things to think about."

"You're right." Finding out what that fundoshi had covered.... That was one of them. He kissed a slow, easy path back to Amarant's mouth. "So do you."

"I'm thinking of a gorgeous mage wrapped around my dick. Can't imagine anything better than that." Their lips met, meshed, formed a slick seam...while far below, their only anatomical difference traced a slow path between his thighs. A groan filled Kuja's mouth.

He threaded his fingers into that mass of hair..., holding himself upright in the bath, inches from the beast his tail teased. Huge, thick cock. Uncut, coarsely hairy at the base...balls drawn closely up, swollen with lust. "Someone's been hiding this from me," he broke away to murmur. "Her loss will be my gain."

"You're gonna gain a sore ass if you keep doing that...'ll fuck your goddamn brains out." Didn't stop him from moving his hips with need. "Don't tease me like that."

"No?" Could be worse. He could slip his tail away, rub his ass directly onto that cock...the motion tipped Amarant's head back on his neck, mouth half open for his ragged breaths. "I suppose this feels better...?"

"God damn you, Kuja. Don't fucking do that to me.... You're making me too horny to think." He grabbed the Genome and held him by the ass, the human's unreasonably sexy frame moving back enough for his cock to slide beneath Kuja and up, between them. "This," He grabbed and held with one hand, the other moving upward, "this'll be much better." His fingers teased one tender nipple. 

Kuja sucked in a breath. "Oh...Y-Yes. Lovely...." Where they sat together, a heavy guiding hand pulled him up, down, slowly sliding that massive cock alongside his. He reached to hold them together.

"Mmh. That's great.... Look at your soft body. Your skin's like flower petals." 

He seemed not to notice the mage's other hand plying himself from behind——under his tail and in, where he'd swollen just enough to need lancing. Gentle pressure with his nails, a slight twinge of pain.... And, drawing them away and up, the source of the scent he was never without. 

Amarant's eyes opened. "Where's that coming from?" He pulled deep lungfuls of air through his nose.

"Oh, this...." A little smirk touched Kuja's lips. "I've had scent glands since my creation. Garland's aim was to make me irresistible to Gaian senses...."

"It worked." He grabbed Kuja's hand and pressed it to his nose. "Ah, god. I could burn incense that smelled like this..., fuck all day and night under the smoke. Kinda slippery."

"It's more a kind of oil than anything. Like castoreum or civet." Seemed to be addictive to more than just gargants and hordes of Mu. "You remember...."

"Thought it was cologne. Loved it from the first sniff." He kissed Kuja's fingertips. "Does it burn?"

He blinked. "...Not...that I  _ know _ of. Why?"

"'Cause my dick's going up there." The honeyed drawl sent frissons down his spine. "Gives you a little shudder thinking about it, huh? Stretching you up, pulling all that stress out of you one thrust at a time...."

Chaos, it did. The idea of being flattened into silk and velvet not six feet away from the bath.... "Now  _ you're _ teasing me." Not that it wasn't enjoyable.

"I see that blush. You  _ like _ being teased." Amarant eased him back...slowly, to the opposite wall of the tub. "Like this...." He traced thick fingertips over Kuja's cheek, down his neck...to his ear, where just the sound made him shiver. "Or this——" His tongue washed over the pointed end and in. Deep, wet swishing. Hot breaths. Kuja's shoulder seized close with the slow, tickling caress...the rest of him stiffening and surrendering, thighs splaying open around Amarant's hips.

"That's it...." He pulled them together, slowly grinding. Kuja's stiffened cock crushed sweetly to his, between his sleek belly and what felt like a hairy washboard. "Your skin’s so pink...but you're starting to flush red everywhere." His lips pressed to the mage's neck and sucked.

_ "Ah——"  _ If he could only get closer! His arms couldn't close around that wide back. He could barely hold tight enough to skate his nails over it. "Ah, yes——"

"God damn it, Kuja," Amarant heatedly whispered.

Four hundred pounds of solid muscle easily lifted him from the bath. Shrugged aside the monk's clothes with a foot, managed them to the bed, before laying Kuja down into the soft swans'-down mattress and covering him in hard, moving heat. He moaned low, seeing nothing but crimson and pale blue. 

"Please," he breathed _ , "please...." _

Long, thick hands plied him upward. The heat flicked wetly down his chest, tasting his nipples, lapping them with a heavy, meaty tongue as he tried in vain to get closer. Closer, more, he had to be closer.... Down his belly, into his navel, trickling from one curve of his hips to the other...he had to get  _ closer....  _

The brush of Amarant's beard touched him. He cried with need, hands grabbing fistfuls of hair.  _ Closer...! _ Shoulders slid under his thighs, hands lifted his hips, making his cock an offering to that silky wet heat.... And now it engulfed him.

_ "Ah, god, Salamander——" _

He twisted in the bed, sobbing, incoherent as Amarant sucked him deep. Tight, hot mouth; thrusting, dancing tongue....  _ Oh fuck ohfuck fuckfuckfuckohFUCK.... _ His hips rode that hard jaw, he worked himself as deeply as he could between those vacuous lips. He clawed sheets. He howled like an animal. He needed more—— 

He was going to spill himself down that fiery throat, but he needed  _ more——! _ And he grabbed a pillow, covered his face, wept into it as his hips bucked with helpless orgasm. He barely felt the clenching slurp below him, of that boundless heat drinking it all....

He rolled over, easily turned by one heavy hand. His ass tilted skyward. Warmth, muscle, flicking wet pressure... _ oh fuck, he's licking my asshole......oh, if only I were small and he could lick ALL of me up...if I could ride his tongue like a dragon.... _ Such sweet, slithering ecstasy.... He arched up, gasping, pleading without words for more.

Filled, but no longer with his tongue. Sandalwood, frankincense, olive...streaming in, readying him for thick fingers to stretch and work.... First one, then another, urging him open as he groaned.  _ More...more, closer.... Inside me—— _

For moments, the world stopped...at the touch of that hard, piercing fire. He burned around it, seized closed, as tight as he could manage.... Hands spread him open. A long trail of something cool, slippery wet, slid over that burn. It receded......more trails, long wet threads on him.... Guiding that fire back in. His asshole weakly fluttered; he hadn't expected Amarant to be so big.

Those long, thick arms pulled him up...now he straddled the human's massive cock, weight slowly taking him down. He could barely hold himself upright.

"God, Amarant, y-you're so fucking  _ huge...." _

The monk held him close. "I can stop if you need me to. It'll be hard, but I can stop.... Don't let me hurt you."

"No——" Kuja wilted back to the bed, gasping. "I can handle it. I just need you to pull out for a minute...." Slowly, very slowly, inch by inch.... He came free, clenching painfully at the retreat.

Amarant placed a hand on Kuja's back. "Think I rushed it. You take whatever time you need." He sat on the edge of the bed, head of his cock a darker red than his hair. "You don't look like you're bleeding. Hope not."

"I'll be fine...." Too far to stop. Even if his guardian could, he knew he couldn't. Not enough willpower...not when he'd felt that fire. "Come here.... Lie down. Maybe if I take it myself...."

"You sure?" Those eyes searched his.

"Get down here." He tried for firmness. "Let me try." A smile wove over his lips at Amarant's surrender. "I should be patient with myself...and with you." He reached for a bottle among the motley lot there, and poured the contents into his hand.

Amarant tried for ease where he lay on his back. "Not enough, huh?"

"Probably not," Kuja agreed with a gentle laugh. "But I'm not a woman. I wouldn't have any way to help you unless I could work a year's worth of scent out of me...those pheromones are the only reason I got so far on Gaia."

"They smell amazing." Clearly, by the turgid arch of that dick. "What're you doing?"

"Just helping things along," was the Genome's reply, slick hand lowering to stroke it. "You don't mind...?" Silly question. Amarant's eyes closed with lust, breaths quickening a bit. "Maybe we need more." Another bottle, this one directly onto the human's glorious organ. He slipped his fingers backward, upward into him, stretching what already ached from both pleasure and pain. "Let's see if that's enough...."

"You're really stubborn." But he certainly didn't try to move the softer, smaller man where he straddled. "Be careful."

Careful? Eventually. Right now he was too horny to even consider failure. Slowly he eased down...to that thick head, helping the stretch along with fingers at the very edge. When he managed it, he stilled.

"You're still so  _ tight...." _ came the quivering groan. "Like a virgin."

"Well, it isn't strictly false.... I haven't welcomed anyone up there. Just you." The admission brought a flush to Amarant's face. "Oh, come now. You didn't think I was a harlot, did you?"

"N——Nah." By the moan, he was as near to coming now as Kuja had been at the first touch of his lips.  _ "Ooohhhh.  _ God. Do something...anything, this is torture...." Another slow inch down. "Yeah......I guess I asked for it. I did say to be careful. You're——" Another inch. "Oh fuck. It isn't hurting you, is it? 'Cause I can still——ah,  _ yeah——" _ His head jerked with every slight descent.

This was easier to take...now, Kuja leaned back, slowly rode that thick, wonderful cock. With a careful arch, and his hands on Amarant's thighs, the head moved back and forth against his prostate.... "So good," he moaned. "You fill me up no matter how far in you are." The monk's hands slid up behind his back, aiding him. "Ah.  _ Ah-hh...." _ The deeper he managed, the heavier a groan in return...until finally, Kuja reached the depth they both wanted, lifting himself from a straddling position to slide his legs up. Amarant's arms closed around him, held him.... Now, he slowly thrust, from nearly out to balls deep. Kuja arched in his arms.

"God, yes. You're all the way in...."

"You're tighter than a  _ fist," _ Amarant breathed. "I thought I could stop...but I don't know if I can anymore...." He lowered them to the bed, to slide pillows under the mage's ass. "I need you. I need to come...."

His face blazed hot. "Give it to me...all of it. Fill me up."

"You're just too beautiful, Kuja. I don't know if I can stop touching you, kissing you...." Lifting him by the hips, he thrust smoothly back in. "You're so soft around my dick...so silky. I can't just look at you. I need to touch you again. I need to kiss you again. I want to satisfy you." He punctuated everything he said with a deep thrust, that curled Kuja's toes and swayed his cock. "Like this...." He reached, wrapped fingers around it and tugged.

_ "Ah, yes...." _

"I want you," Amarant whispered. "I don't give a fuck about money or anything else. As long as I get to have your amazing body wrapped around mine, I couldn't care less. Even when you were Anchorite, I just wanted  _ you....  _ I couldn't tell them. They wouldn't have let me stay as long as I did." As he thrust, he sweetly pleasured Kuja's cock, staring down with heavy-lidded eyes. "You're gorgeous, delicious.... I almost want to be chained up to a wall and force-fed your cock."

A weak smile spread over his lips. "I was thinking the other way around.... If you bound me down, carried me around or kept me on a collar..., you could walk me with you in plain sight and no one would notice. You could excuse us to an alley and I'd suck you dry." The way those thrusts quickened, hardened, he'd found something. "When you were licking my asshole I wished I was smaller, so I could ride that wonderful tongue like my—— _ aah!——" _ Legs, lifted...ankles on Amarant's shoulders...now the monk fucked slowly, changing the angle until Kuja's nails caught his thighs. "Right there, you're on my—— _ Oh-hhhh——" _ Sweet, succulent stabs of ecstasy...!

"You like that?"

"It feels too good, you're going to make me come again...." He already streamed, and here that hand took advantage of it, tugging faster, quick, tight strokes closer to the head....

"Lemme make you come," Amarant groaned. "I want to feel you seize up on my dick...." His hips pistoned back and forth, drawing breathless cries from Kuja. "I need to fill that hot, tight ass of yours...." Every word, every lustful stream, shoved him higher and higher up that peak.... "Come for me, Anchorite——"

_ "God, Amarant——" _ Shining, blinding bliss! He racked up and down on the human's cock, spine curving in sexual tetany——gasped, as hot lips crushed to his, feeding a long, visceral sound between them that shuddered in his belly. Deep, pulsing stretches told where that heavy cock fed him too, serve after serve of just what he needed. 

At last Amarant pulled away, slowly easing out to trace fingers there. "Still clenching. I'd say I ruined you for anyone else....  _ You _ sure did. I don't think I could ever fuck again if it wasn't you on my dick."

"I'm sore," Kuja twittered. "But it feels great...." He barely moved as Amarant rose from the bed. "Where are you going...?"

The floor creaked. "Nowhere. Just for this...." A wet cloth-covered hand slowly worked down his belly, stroking his sleepy cock, and spread his ass to clean where they'd joined. The gentle touch drew out a sigh.

"You felt amazing," he whispered. "Need more...."

"Not tonight, beautiful. Maybe tomorrow."


	3. III

Sunlight pierced his eyes——urging one heavy hand over them, to where he realized they weren't in Treno anymore. Something moved around them..., silently, almost imperceptibly. An airship? Maybe if it were huge...like, the size of the Invincible....

He shot upright in bed. Definitely not where they'd fallen asleep. Clean, airy sheets, an upright tub that resembled a curled dragon...something more in Kuja's element. Curtains everywhere. And beside him...the sleeping Genome himself, no longer naked but in barely anything. Wisps of clothing if that.

Amarant slowly measured every angle and curve with his eyes...from the love-bite he'd stained that slender neck with, to the generous pink of the mage's sweet, round ass. Handprints there told of how hard and long he'd grabbed it.

Kuja rolled over in his sleep, murmuring. His dreaming self licked his lips. More of him to watch...His blush-pink nipples, begging to be teased. His flat, silky belly, barely moving with breath. And his cock, awakened and gleaming...either morning wood, or in need of a stroke. Slowly the monk slipped closer in their shared bed, pulling one smooth leg over his hip.

"Mornin', li'l prince." His soft greeting brought a little smile. "Wanna get up?"

Kuja had heard him.  _ "...Mnh-nh." _

"Want me to get you something to drink?"

_ "Mnh-nh." _

"I don't guess you're ready for thinking yet." A wicked grin stretched Amarant's face. "Want your dick sucked?"

_ "Mmmh." _ Slow stretch, or a reach.

"Alrighty, then...somebody's horny. I can handle that for you. Just lie nice and comfy there, spread those beautiful legs for me." He slid one hand over Kuja's forehead to pet his hair. "I'm kinda thirsty anyway...we got some work done last night, didn't we?"

That sweet, soft mage shifted beneath him...legs moving a bit, not by much. He tugged down what little passed for an undergarment. "Dress like this for me? You shouldn't have. It looks absolutely darling." Slowly he licked up one thigh. "That skin of yours...I could taste you all day."

Sleepily those hips rose. Hands languorously found his head.

"There's my sweet Lord Anchorite. Gimme those legs." A shift, a rise...and he lifted them over his shoulders, turning his head to lick the other thigh. "Don't wanna leave anything out." He traced slow paths between them and around that beautiful cock with the tip of his tongue. "Just the sight of you makes me hard as a brick."

_ "Mmhh...." _

"I know. You just let Salamander take care of everything. Don't you even budge from this bed." Silky skin. Mana-sweetened drops clinging to the plush head of his dick. Rosy pink asshole...fuck, he'd been amazing last night. And now the man hired to guard him lowered his head, licked long and firmly up the length of that cock to the tip, and sucked his way down.

Those hands balled slowly into fists in his hair, pulled him close. Kuja knew what they both wanted, and he was definitely going to get it. Savoring the soft musk of that skin, Amarant blew his half-sleeping magical friend and lowered his hands beneath his ass to pull him closer...he couldn't ever get close enough. But he fit his mouth nearly to Kuja's pubic bone and sucked, unwilling to let the mage pull out for a moment until he came.

Tugs. Soft moans. Dreamy thrusts...he was about to drink his nubile bedmate dry. Kuja panted in either sleep or waking moments, gasping——then pulled him, mashing to Amarant's lips as he emptied himself between them. Whatever passed down his throat was pretty much mana and nothing else. 

He swallowed deep and rose away, grinned down into the mage's sleepy face. Haze-filled eyes opened into slits to look at him. "Good morning."

_ "Mmmm... _ I'd say." A shy smile emerged.

"I see you teleported us someplace. Where?"

Kuja slowly blinked. "I think the Invincible. Not sure.... Probably woke up in the middle of the night and didn't know how many hours had passed."

"Treno will do that, especially when you've been away." He slowly licked his lips. "You taste even better in the morning. How do you feel? Still sore?"

"Kinda hungry, actually...I could use some protein." The introspective tone swelled Amarant's cock. "I imagine you can help me with that......." Slowly Kuja lifted himself to sit. "Look at you...naked in my bed. Naughty Salamander. What should I do with you?"

"Anything you want...I  _ am _ your bodyguard."

"Right there, then," A slender finger pointed to the center of the bed, "on your back. I want to taste you now.... It's no fun having all that pleasure to myself. And when this wonderful thing filled me up...I felt it. I want to drink you up today. Don't go wasting any."

Amarant leaned back, into warm sheets Kuja had just risen from...unsure whether to pull anything over him or leave them off. The Genome's stare was a fiercely appraising one. "See anything you like?"

"All of it," Kuja husked. "I want you so badly...." That goddamned voice of his. The way he smelled. His skin. The taste of him. The feel of that tight virgin ass, the moment he'd slipped inside...and the exquisite, slow torment of entering him again. That had almost been  _ lovemaking, _ not merely sex. "Make love to me today, Salamander...."

"Anything you want......oh, fuck. Yeah...." Though he wouldn't fit in Kuja's mouth for more than a few inches at best, the Genome lustfully lapped at the head of his cock like a cat with a saucer of cream. Slower, longer licks every time, sweet pink tongue tracing further down his dick. He closed a hand around it, stroked...clearly enjoying the way Amarant's eyes rolled back in his head, and his deep, needful panting. 

"God, y-yeah...Oh, Anchorite. Gimme more...that's just so good. Your mouth is heaven itself...."

_ "Mmp——" _ No further than an inch or two. But his tongue lashed wetly back and forth on the head, lips sucking tight.... He didn't flinch as Amarant slid hands into his too-short hair, simply moved up, down, sucked as though he lived on cock. The monk's belly tightened with that slippery-soft mouth.

He couldn't take much more. His spine crawled..., dick tongue-whipped by a wayward noble, sucked by the most beautiful lips he'd ever seen, so hard he hollowed his cheeks to keep Amarant in. Slowly he chanced a thrust; Kuja moaned and moved with it. Soon he had a little more in that tempting mouth, and they squished where they met. The sound drew a flush into those cheeks.

"Nah," he managed, "the more you hear it, the better it feels. God, I'm about to come in that mouth of yours.... So fucking  _ great......." _

"Mmmhhh," that soft, sweet man pleaded with tongue alone, stroking back and forth, reaching to carefully squeeze his balls. Shudders tore through him.

"Ah. Ah, yeah—— _ Kuja——" _

Those sexy eyes widened round. He hadn't expected that much of it, probably hadn't expected the taste, but his gasps didn't sound upset.... No, he licked, and teased, and urged more out, his heavenly mouth slimy with it. Eventually Amarant had to stop him; those licks were gentle, but far too much of a good thing.

A last bit of it caught his full, pretty lips, right in their love-swollen pout. He licked it away...then nestled his head into the curve of Amarant's thigh, watching him quiver with gleaming baby-doll eyes.

"That was....  _ Whew. _ I don't even have words for how great that was. You're amazing...."

"Mmm...well, I really did need it. Mana levels are usually highest in the morning. But I guess I don't have to tell you that.... I think we traded resources."

"Yeah. I could fight a whole herd of Zaghnol right now.... Rather get you cleaned up and fuck you senseless." One large hand skated into his hair. "How do you feel about that one, babe?"

"First...," Those brows tilted askew, water-pale eyes darting, "I need to figure out how we got here."

**‡**

Bedtime in Treno, morning in the better quarters of the Invincible? He hadn't done this purposely..., or else he hadn't done it at  _ all. _

But they were here, and a quiet direction had told Amarant where he could find the baths...more like waterfalls than anything, perfect for washing newly hatched Black Mages or even a dragon whelp. Kuja wandered down the hall in a long robe, trying to piece the situation together.

He turned a corner, frowning——and listened with no small amount of suspicion at approaching steps, some kind of metal with them.  _ Shit!  _ He slipped into a nearby maintenance room, cloistering himself in the dark...waiting for their retreat. Only when he heard nothing more did he emerge——

To feel a hand on his shoulder, turning him around. The barely shorter Sir Fratley stood there with a gentle, almost puzzled frown crossing his maw.

"Are you all right, Silverlocks? 'Tis as though you've seen a wraith." He didn't seem to remember Freya, but somehow he  _ did  _ recall their time in the Festival of the Hunt.... "What troubles you?"

"It's——" He shook his head. "Do you happen to know how we got here?"

"Oh yes. That  _ Mikoto _ girl.... She attracted each of us quietly to keep us from being sought by the regent. (He's rather enraged with you.) She mentioned the teleportation spell you used on my lady and the others.... Seems for her, it works in the reverse. She cannot  _ banish _ people as you did, only summon them. Garland wanted to use it to capture Zidane at some point.... But if you hadn't been asleep, it wouldn't have worked on you."

"Oh." Kuja's face heated.

A wry smile showed the rat knight's teeth. "I see you may not have been  _ sleeping _ after all.... 'Twould explain why your cohort is bathing in a dizzy haze. Oh, and Zidane is looking for you."

"Ever a wealth of knowledge. Thank you."

"Nothing at all. I'm told General Beatrix is here as well; please be cautious. Rather don't know what to expect from that woman.... At least not anymore." He pulled his hat off, fanned his furry white face. "Well, I must be to my lady and our exercises. Always must stay fit for defense of our allies."

Kuja bowed. "It has been lovely to see you." The two men separated, each in opposite directions; he'd found out why, but now he needed to know where Mikoto was, and whether Beatrix was here from good will.


	4. IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This would be where the referenced torture and referenced sexual abuse comes in. It doesn't appear in the rest of the story, though. The rape/non-con and underage warnings both apply to Kuja's experiences, as he destroyed Madain Sari at *thirteen years old, and The Room will tell you the rest of that.
> 
> Sorry. Garland was a real motherfucker in this one.

"Say," Amarant scrubbed his chest where he stood in the cool water,  _ "hypothetically, _ that I knew where Kuja was." Beside him Zidane had chosen a warmer area, stretching muscles that had to be sore. The human could relate. "And that I've known for a while...."

"Hypothetically, big guy, you'd be my favorite person right now. I mean, besides me kinda getting you fired and all."

"Not on my radar anymore...I was rehired last night."

"You gonna leave us, then?" The small-bodied Genome looked up; he was definitely the ugly brother. "C'mon. Big gorilla like you is gonna run off to work for that caviar-eating old man again?"

"Nope, he died. I'm working for his son Anchorite. That's really who I was guarding to begin with."

"Oh, I see. That fancy blonde fruit is gonna keep you around like a two-legged dog. You sure you wanna do it? Treno is  _ stuffed _ with wealthy jerks." Zidane didn't know what the fuck he was saying. Nor did he know who Anchorite was.

"Nah, we both woke up here."

Tiny body hit the floor. He closed his eyes, waiting for the kid to recover. "Wh...." From the stumbling half-word as he got up, he knew what'd happened. 

_ "Kuja _ is Lord Anchorite. He's been Anchorite the entire time...how the fuck do you think he hid from Garland? He ain't exactly invisible in plain sight. And I worked for  _ him _ when you got me fired."

"So you and Kuja were sleeping. Mikoto grabbed you both out of your beds with like the opposite of the magic  _ he  _ used on  _ us  _ in the Iifa Tree."

"About right."

"What'd I miss?"

"There was only _one_ bed in that room." A perverted sense of humor pulled his lips into a grin. "And neither of us were sleeping on the floor."

Right back down. He picked up his sponge; might want to move to the warmer side.

**‡**

"I dunno, he's actually here. And it seems like he’s getting used to the idea of living a while longer....” Zidane didn’t know whether he should tell Garnet the real reason Kuja was so calm. “I mean, Amarant pulled him out of the tree, and then took care of him for a while. He’s got some gnarly stitch work where we almost killed him.... That huge cleave in his leg from Steiner’s sword is gonna leave the worst scar.”

“I’m so glad he’s alive.” She smiled there; they had come to see the Genome as he truly was. A man who had been given the worst of destinies, who’d fought it with everything he had, and finally emerged to the sun, a creature triumphant. “Amarant is caring for him?”

“He worked for Kuja back in Treno. I...accidentally got him fired from that job. But obviously, my brother isn’t just going to lose the best bodyguard he’s had in his life.”

She nodded, though something seemed to be on her mind. He hoped it wasn’t what he’d found out this morning. “A question, if I may.... However did Mikoto bring them both here without a great deal of strain?”

_ “Amarant Coral is engaging in consensual sodomy with Kuja.” _

Oh, fuck. She had to show up...And her lack of a filter sent bright color into Garnet’s cheeks. The Queen of Alexandria turned around, not quite able to understand by her stare. Mikoto lightly shrugged, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“You should not be so shocked. Many animals engage in homosexual behavior, and Genomes have not been shown to be an exception. Several of our people have bonded in same-sex groups.” She smiled bleakly there, admitting, “I failed to relocate their clothes, however, so I asked a friend of mine to retrieve them. And for the moment there are things they both can wear.”

Zidane sweated on his feet. “But, uh, putting it like that? Did you  _ have _ to?”

“Should I have been more clinical? This morning they engaged in reciprocated oral sodomy.... It seems to be one of their preferred forms of intercourse.”

_ “Oh my....” _ Garnet was as red as he felt. Mikoto hadn’t even blushed. She just seemed blithe about the whole thing, as if two men trading blowjobs was fine and dandy when a year ago they’d been trading deathblows. And Zidane  _ really _ didn’t want to know what or who Kuja was doing. Even worse, he knew his brother wasn’t the one throwing.

He had to go break Amarant’s balls. Maybe that would cool him off. “They’re acting like rabbits up here. Good thing Kuja isn’t a woman.”

_ “You! _ As if it matters.” Garnet shook a chiding finger in his face and passed Mikoto to walk down the hall, leaving the two Genomes staring at each other. He didn’t know what to say, and she didn’t seem to care what anyone said. An almost naively happy expression was caught on her face.

“...So. Kuja and  _ Amarant.” _

“Yes.”

“Not that I’m judging....” He shook his head. “But couldn’t he have had higher standards? I mean, Amarant is filthy, crude, seven and a half feet tall, and almost as far from law-abiding as I am....”

She smiled. “I do not think those traits mattered. Much as in other species, I’m sure the size of Amarant Coral’s genitals was one of Kuja’s specific needs.” The answer didn’t make Zidane feel  _ any  _ better——only weirder for realizing he’d have to agree with her. If nothing else, that monk had some meat.

“I’m out. Later!” His face burned like hot coals as he ran to catch up with Garnet.

**‡**

_ Kuja and Amarant. _ Zidane wasn't the only one pondering this arrangement, though he had the most to say about it.

Beatrix padded down the greater of the Invincible's halls, marveling at the enormity of the airship——to think  _ Kuja _ had piloted this, used its weaponry, and lived in it as an apprentice. The armory was locked, but she thought she'd surrender her other eye to see what was inside.

A door near her seemed to have suffered some damage——the frame was half broken, some dark substance and claw marks having weakened it nearly to its end.

Five claws, the innermost one weakened on either side. Impulsively she pressed her hand to a trail, measured the spacing, barely larger than hers.... 

Not claws, she realized, but  _ fingernails.  _ And here, an entrenched sliver of what might be a missing nail. She pulled it free from the aging wood. 

Thick. Shiny....  _ No.  _ Carefully she tested the knob; locked. But one hard shove broke the entire door from its hinges and in.

What she saw inside drew her hands upward, to cover her trembling mouth.

A mostly empty, dust-covered room...queer faces carved into the walls, the furthest boundary black as dark matter——and a table in the center. More appropriately, a dungeon rack. Eight feet long, blood dried into the wood at wrists, ankles, neck, and....

The victim had been nearly seven feet tall.

Something different softened the wood in a long trail above a sixth shackle, a curved one between the ankles. She drew close, smelled——pungent, sanguine, visceral. And a floral musk pervading throughout. "He was chained here," she realized, "and that door was locked for a reason." Behind the broken entry, a triangular ward lay sizzling away on the door, defeated. It'd been one of  _ many. _

The rack was cold, too cold for wood. Her eye closed where she stood shivering in the room.

_ ——don't......Not again......please, Garland—— _

"What foul bridge is this?" Her hand rose to her face. "What am I hearing?"

_ ——stop, it hurts—— _

Evil had been done here, the kind she might've seen flickering in his eyes in Alexandria. Kuja had screamed himself awake then, from terrors beyond his soul.... He'd refused all offers of aid, had told them it was none of their business, even as Steiner had had to restrain him more than once....

_ ——get off me, stop this......What are you doing......What is that, Garland, why are you cutting me—— _

Her hands covered her ears. How was she hearing him now, these memories? What had he seen from inside this room? Why did she hear it?

_ ——nononoGarlandNO—— _

Footsteps turned her fast around, face to face with icy blue eyes. She didn't belong here, couldn't escape the piercing, haunted look...nor the purse to his lips. Betrayed. Horrified. Devastated.

"...What are you doing in here, Beatrix?"

If she heard he had no soul, she might've believed it today...hearing his voice, seeing those eyes. Kuja looked from her to that ghastly table, seemingly drained of emotion.

"I'm sorry. I had to see it for myself to understand." Poor comfort she offered there. No wonder he'd been so detached, willing to do absolutely anything to live....

No wonder he'd nearly ended Gaia. If she'd had even a dram of the eldritch might he possessed, and known the horrors of this room herself, she couldn't say she'd be any different. She couldn't lay any blame on him for the fear he'd felt, the desperate cries she'd only heard now.

"And do you?" His voice was flat. Too flat.

She shook her head. "I have never known a world in which fear was my first emotion. My father, my mother.... They would never have  _ entertained _ doing this to anyone."

He passed her by, looking meaningfully at the rack. With a cruel sort of grief he pulled it upward.

Tools. Fastened to the underside, rusted shut...or merely blackened with torture. Something made of glass, a hollowed sort. Clamps, hoses.... And things that resembled a man's own tools of potential misery, warped into terrible, blighted forms...coated the foulest. Blood and who knew what else had dried onto them.

"To you, I was a _flamboyant, lewd libertine."_ His head swiveled on his neck. "Never did you see my nakedness. Not once did I commit a single sexual sin. I was ascetic and more the minute I escaped this room."

"Those claw marks were your nails."

"And all the blood here is mine. Garland could not bleed...he had nothing in his veins."

"But I smelled something else," she persisted. "A rancid triad of misery."

He said nothing, only indicated those terrifying phallic tools. Nothing needed answers now; she knew of the very substances, and why they would muddle into a tortured reek. All his, damned from age into a staggering stench.

"He left you shackled many times."

"For weeks, Beatrix. With neither respite nor movement. Not that I would've moved if I could, with _those_ causing further agony each time I did." The mouths of those wall faces were open. Maybe that was how she'd heard him.... Cruel memory, the kind Memoria would never show them and only Terra could've devised.

"How did you escape?"

"By destroying Madain Sari. I gave my word, and he released me long enough to do so...then returned me to this room. In glee over his victory, he bathed in my screams. My pain was an altar of pleasure for him, my body a sickening abattoir he feasted in." His scent mingled with some strange deterrent there.... The smell of agony. Her sinuses threatened to burst.

"I mean from the room...the last time."

Kuja fixed her with a hardened, chilling stare. She suddenly didn't want to know. "If I tell you, Beatrix," he sibilated there, "you will have to keep it secret. I would spare the others from it and destroy this room. But the wards couldn't even keep it closed, and as for destruction...." He waved one hand. 

The faces shut tight at eyes and mouth. She might know why he'd only warded it now.

"No part of the Invincible submits to destruction. It's named that way for a reason...The airship itself is a living, symbiotic being. My body fed it for long enough that its pipes are stuffed with manamortam. I could no more destroy it than I could myself."

Beatrix scrubbed her eye. "I have heard the most unimaginable things, Kuja. I heard your screams. I know why you woke from nightmares."

"You don't know all of it." He rose, crossed the room to that black glass wall. "But if you will intrude upon my past, you will also know my pain. Gird yourself, woman, for you have never seen such terrors before."

For the sin of betrayal, she decided there, she would pay the price. Some deeper understanding had to be found here for all their sakes.

The torment in Kuja's eyes demanded it.


	5. V

He emerged from pain again, claimed victory over the spectres behind his eyes. Whether she had come for good will or otherwise, Beatrix could not even look at him as they exited the room she'd broken into. Kuja turned about, raised that formerly warded door back into place.

He pressed his hands to the wood——feeling it shift under his palms, the way that frozen substance gave way to a warmer one. The heat stretched over the door, the frame...wound it back to itself, even the raked paths disappearing. But his were not the only hands in motion.

Hers had sank just as deeply into it. She knelt there with exposed eye streaming, fighting back her grief. Trying to forget, he knew, just what she'd seen.

He rose away, as did she. Finally she looked at him.

"...I understand," she breathed there, barely audible. "But how I wish I did not." She wiped miserably at her eye.

He had more desire for excuses than he did for her tears. Slowly he extricated a strip of linen, from the inner fabric of his robe, and held it out.

She took it. "Lords, Kuja. If only you'd——"

"You would've been my allies from the beginning, then," he said softly, "and our conflicts would've been pitiable. Not every evil man can be given renewal." That much, he knew for certain——what he had with Amarant was a fortunate sort of mercy, he reflected as she dried her eye.

One hand touched his. "You aren't evil. I would've done the same things you did if that room was mine."

"So you  _ do _ understand." He ached there. "I was hoping to at least have some antagonists remaining. Cid has never been a friend to me...and I want none of his alliance. I neither parlay nor ally with flamboyant, lewd libertines."

Her desperately sad countenance lifted. "Kuja, you are teasing me now." A helpless smile wove between her lips. "Come on. I meant it as insult and didn't even know you were the opposite."

"Cidolfas Fabool is the only one who needs that title. If I'd done what he has, I'd have a hundred children, rather than only one, whose soul was too good for this rude earth." Kuja smiled sadly there. "And for as heinous as I was to your eye, you at least  _ tolerated _ him."

She blinked...that brilliant head trying to figure it out. He admired her breadth of intellect.

"Not Zidane. No one in Tantalus......oh, Kuja.  _ Vivi? _ But I didn't tolerate him. I attacked him with Freya, Zidane...."

"When he first came to Alexandria you did nothing to him. And when your conflicts were fully done, you came to his bedside...." He shook his head. "Even Zidane didn't make it back to see him. But you accompanied Steiner and gave him gentle words...I consider that tolerance at the very least."

"But Vivi? He looks nothing like you."

He pulled a book from the shelves in the hallway..., more, behind them, as he hadn't wanted this to be found. "I don't know if you can read Terran. But a pictogram says a thousand words...Have a look. Everything you've ever wanted to know about Vivi is inside."

"Where are you going?"

"I came to find you, Beatrix——I wasn't sure of your intentions. But now that I know we're all safe, and that you mean no harm, I'm off to continue my day. You should take that to Steiner and read it with him. He'd be delighted to know how his favorite lad came into existence...as well as why I plan to revive him again. Third life's the charm...."

He didn't miss her guilty look as she accepted the thick hardbound tome. "And what will you do now, Kuja?"

"Probably bathe," He looked away, new heat caught in his cheeks, "and then find Amarant."

-

It had been nice to see him again after all. He hadn't expected the pleasure of an old friend reappearing in his life, but the thought that Fratley remembered _him_ more than Freya was unsettling. 

Kuja settled down into the cool tub, sighing; seeing Beatrix in the room he'd tried to lock was worse. Someone on this ship knew the truth about him, and not necessarily the person he'd wanted to. Changing her mind so forcibly there....

_ Frankly, it's almost as bad as what Garland did. _

The door quietly opened and shut behind him. He stilled his breaths, breathing softly through his nose until thick male musk slid into it.

"Missed you."

His cheeks picked up a vein of heat. "I missed you too, Amarant."

"Saw Beatrix...." The monk glanced to the door. "Looks like she had the life scared out of her. But I don't think she'll try to kill you...whatever was between you is over."

He shook his head; he'd thought as much. "I didn't even want her in that room." The sheer reality of what he might've done by showing her his entire life.... What would she think after knowing everything from his perspective, even the events she’d seen near him? He shuddered to think he could've made it worse.

"Ah. I've seen it several times myself, kiddo. When we were on The Invincible before, headed to come fight you, I must've been there every few hours just trying to figure it out. And over in Ipsen’s Castle, I got caught before I managed to reach the topmost tower.... Still like to find out where I went wrong."

"You can’t directly look at the doorway that leads you there. The one room you can’t get to was another of my inner sancta." Around them, the air had cooled several degrees; a living airship wouldn’t let itself overheat. "So even you decided to enter.... I guess the three of us don’t approve of locked doors. Though I hate them for another reason...." Whether he’d learned by now or not, Amarant might be better served to know of his direst fear, the one that made him just as mortal as anyone.

"They’re never locked long enough,” the human murmured. "Someone opens them in front of you. Garland probably never let you lock a door at all."

"He didn’t care to stop me, but he always made sure he could get in. He’d shove his weight into the door, break it down——and whatever he couldn’t break himself, a battering ram made of stone would. I was almost crushed under it once." Locked doors were just another lie for the simple-minded. Nothing was locked forever, nothing could be hidden for eternity. Nothing was  _ safe _ forever.

The room seemed colder now. He shivered in the water, even as the monk moved to warm it up...how had he known? His thoughts trickled away as heat flowed in, making at least one thing better. As for his mood, he didn’t know what could...though the sight of Amarant’s eyes beneath those dreadlocks helped. One long hand pulled them back; the older man looked quietly into his, seeming to see what he’d kept away from everyone for so long.

"I doubt I can really make anything better, Kuja, but I’m here regardless. I'll be here until you decide you don’t need me or want me around."

"That will never happen,” the Genome whispered. Necron would take Amarant before he’d cast the human off, like some torn coat.... Right now, everything he needed reached a hand up to stroke his cheek...rough, callused fingertips reminding him he wasn’t alone here, and he wouldn’t be. At least, not for another seventy years, unless he was given to unnatural longevity.

Kuja himself might be gone first. 

The Iifa Tree’s seed, and Alexander, had forced a limit onto him; how long he’d live.... That was another matter, one he didn’t want to think about. Not while smooth, thick muscles and disarmingly warm lips could soothe his cares away...He drank in the sight of clothes falling away from crimson-dusted limbs, long, winding inks reappearing on that sloped back and shoulders. Even the unfettered musk of that frame was enough to give him peace.

"Gonna have to get used to your staring." Amarant briefly smiled there, where he’d turned around. "'S like you've never seen anyone you loved before."

"I don't know if I've ever been in love until now, Salamander."

Furiously red cheeks. Red ears. Red neck. That man flushed harder than Kuja did at something so simple...unless it was unwelcome, and he was about to get his heart broken. He couldn’t keep his mouth shut long enough to do any serious thinking, could he?

"Damn. And of all the people you could have, you chose me." Those uneven teeth showed in the widest grin he’d ever mustered. "I don’t know what to say."

"You needn’t say anything,” the mage returned, rising slowly up to wrap his arms around Amarant’s waist. "Come in here...." Gentler than before, for the passion they’d already experienced and would continue to have. "In...Love me." The water was clear, warm——he reached for a bottle of rose oil, and one of myrtle. Those handsomely hooded eyes watched, bespelled, as both met the water and came up empty.

Warmth and silky beads of oil danced in the water around him. "I need you so much. I've never known anything this wonderful."

"At least there’s room in  _ this _ tub.” That low purr vibrated in his ears, down his spine. "Smells wonderful...." As did he, sinking into the water with a groan...meeting eyes with Kuja, a calm and firmly wonderful presence in the Genome’s chaotic life. "You're pretty damn amazing, babe."

Sweat threaded down his neck. "Not really. I'm trying to figure myself out and haven’t the first clue how to."

"That’s too complicated for the evening." The distance between them melted away. "Tonight you just need to forget the bad shit and think about what you  _ want _ out of life. You just wanted to live, right? I mean, that’s what you fought us for. You didn’t think it was fair to be created, used, and thrown away."

"Yeah." He slid into Amarant’s lap, sighing gratefully. "You understand...seeing Gaia for the first time, I craved to just lie around in the sun, travel through gorgeous lands—— Experience everything the planet had to offer and then settle down to a peaceful kind of life, where Garland didn’t exist and my truths didn’t matter. Hiding my tail was enough to get them away for a while, but I don’t want to have to live a lie. It hurts...."

"Always does. It’s like a disease your mind is fighting off, instead of your body."

"I don’t want to fight anymore...." Slowly he kissed Amarant’s shoulder. "I want to love, to be loved...to feel everything I’m meant to. To live any way I want to. It can’t be wrong to just want peace and stillness." Those arms wound around him, an agreement of their own. At least here, at least now, he had it. "Help me forget those years...show me how you manage to be as calm as you are...."

"It’s a process, Kuja. You have to work at it——,” He held the Genome closer, skin to skin, “but you aren’t alone. You’re never going to be."

"God, I love you,” he burst. “Don’t ever leave me."

This time, their love was slow. Long, lazy caresses gave way to smooth kisses.... Amarant lifted him, lips wandering over his skin, moments melting into one another as they moved together in the bath. Kuja drew his lover’s thick mane of hair from the water, settled his sodden dreadlocks over the side——leaned forward to trace a path to one ear with his tongue. Amarant groaned under him as he sucked, nibbled...giving way, settling down in the water.

He rose above the human, took those hands in his thinner ones. "You’re so strong..., so firm.... You’re everything I need. I don’t have to be powerful or graceful around you...I can just be myself——"

"What you are,” Amarant’s hands slipped from his to cup his face, “is both of them and more. Power isn’t about magic or physical strength. I had to learn that when I traveled with your brother. I couldn’t do anything to bother that kid...and he got me out of my own head. We've all got room to learn."

That deep murmur fired his blood...hot in his veins, dizzying, even as the bath bloomed sweat along his back. Finally having license to feel, to experience any kind of joy.... He struggled to think of how he’d deserved this and came away short. Maybe it didn’t matter whether he  _ thought _ this was fair...whatever it was, it was here, he could finally have the love he’d needed.

"Beautiful man." His whisper soothed them both. "Let me take care of you today."

Arms and legs sagged beneath him, stilling——he kissed Amarant’s fingers one by one, lowered those massive hands to his hips. Gently he reached, stroked the cock he so dearly loved...thumb pressing to that slick, plush head as fingers plied beneath his tail. "You just ca... _ oohhh _ ...can’t resist touching me, can you...?"

"Nah. Your skin’s like silk in my hands. Like I’m petting a rose...." Oh, those fingers. He fluttered under the circling strokes, the slippery digit that slowly penetrated him...sweet heavens. Glorious shudders. "Yeah. You just do your thing, sexy, and I'll do mine."

Kuja arched there into his touch, moaning low...Amarant knew just what to do with a body, and how to please it. His hand’s pace deepened, quickened.

"You’re softer than Lani ever was.... She never let herself be sensitive, didn’t give me the chance to really be a man for her. And here you are allowing someone to care for you. How does this happen?"

"Fate, maybe...." He moved with the second of those probing fingers. The monk sweetly pleasured him there, stretched him——readying him for the best feeling he’d known yet. How he’d never allowed himself to love it before.... “You're so hard and thick...I need it, Amarant. I need you."

"Come and get it, baby. I’m right here." 

A third, stretching him further than he’d thought he could be...it burned, but only in the best ways now. He rose along solid-muscled thighs enough for the head of Amarant’s cock to barely meet him, tail winding between to flick the tip over his balls. Weight and oils made the penetration simple, the angle made it godly...leaning back, bracing himself on the human’s knees, he took that wonderful dick to the base and rode.

"Ah. Yeah...getting used to it, I see...." Those crimson-veiled eyes squeezed shut. “You fit me tighter than my clothes...so hot inside you. I could love you for days."

"I could love you forever,” Kuja breathed. "As long as you'll have me."

"'ll have you anytime. All you gotta do is ask...you don’t even have to use your words. Just reach out and touch me." Amarant spread Kuja’s thighs to watch, florid color spreading over his ears, his neck, his jawline. He flushed everywhere.... "So beautiful."

Beauty was below him, inside him, thrusting slowly. Tracing fingers over his skin, reaching for his cock to stroke it. He gasped; Amarant’s right hand wandered up, teased his nipples, that amazing tongue wetting his lips. "I don’t even want to let you out of me. I want to warm your cock all night."

"I'll let you." He groaned with Kuja’s bouncing pace. "God, you’re gonna make me lose it if you keep that up."

"I love when you come, Amarant. I can feel it."

"Well, no shit. It’s like you were molded around my dick and never loosened up.... Inside of a week you'll be able to jump on anytime.” The human sucked harsh breaths; flexing ass and groping tail had to be sweet torment. He pulled Kuja up, slowly off his cock——flattening him between the horns of that marble dragon’s head. "Over,” he growled playfully. "Show me that beautiful thing."

He slid up along stone scales, planted his feet on the tub floor...ass upward, as he’d been that first time for preciously short moments.... And a long, dizzy groan poured from his lips at the touch of that mouth. Stubble brushed his inner thighs, Amarant’s tongue slathering wet heat down his balls, flicking back and forth along the underside of his dick. "Yes. Yes, Salamander, don’t stop.... More...."

"Hold still." Fingers stretched and held him open for that sexy, winding muscle. Amarant tasted him, tongue thrusting——curling his toes, wobbling his knees. "You goddamn beautiful boy. I'll give you anything you want."

"I want your cock, Salamander, fuck me.... Have me again and again...."

Hot, thick slab of man. Those bracing fingers made it easy; he slid smoothly back in. Kuja's hips dropped, Amarant reached for his ankles and pulled them...taking control in a way he wasn’t about to protest, holding him open for that massive cock.

He grabbed the sculpted horns on either side of his waist, balanced, moaned——Taken, molded around the human’s dick, he closed his eyes and surrendered..., pressing himself to the cool stone under him, wobbling with the thrusts inside him. "So deep——Fuck, it feels like you’re up behind my ribs...."

"Deepest I've ever been inside  _ anyone," _ Amarant groaned. "So good. I just wanna wear you around me." Sharp-edged thrusts drew a helpless cry to Kuja’s lips. "There it is.... That sound, Anchorite, fuck...Tell me how much I please you."

He shivered from neck to toes, pinioned. "I-It’s so deep. You’re stretching me like crazy..., every inch feels like iron.... How could she just throw this away? She has to be an idiot...."

"I dunno." Hot breath plumed down his back. "Maybe I should thank her. I mean,” Oh, how enticing those thrusts, that fluid motion, “the love of my life isn’t someone I met after a bounty was laid on my head. It wasn’t the woman who tried to take Eiko hostage and would definitely have killed Vivi. It was the man I knew all along...,” Long fingers released his left ankle, reached to comb through his damp, sweaty hair, “the one whose eyes sparkled with appreciation the day I met him." Those fingers continued down his spine, scratched lightly at the small of his back. "Had I not been fired by Sisyphus while you were away, I’d've been with you the whole time."

"I might never have seen what I did, then,” Kuja admitted with an ache in his chest. "It mightn’t have turned out this way."

Amarant slowed his pace——let go of Kuja’s right ankle, lowered to pull him close. Aloft in his arms the Genome simply watched his handler. "That’s not something I want to think about, Kuja...the idea of you being trapped in the deadly mindset that almost killed everything. You’re more than that. You can be anything you want now. You don’t have Garland, there isn’t some kind of deadline you’re attempting to meet.... You aren’t creating  _ people _ who are just gonna die off in a year. You’re free." Slowly he sat, careful of the tail trying to wind around his leg, and pulled Kuja backward into the cool water.

"You’re right...." It touched him to think there was someone here who cared about all of that. "Amarant?"

"Yeah?"

"If Cid comes for me, I don’t think I'll kill him." He lightly shook his head. "He’s been acting like a child this entire time.... Maybe it’s time he knows how the other half feels."

The human chuckled into his hair. "Awfully big risk there. You don't think Hilda will have a problem with it?"

"If I know her, she’s found out about Lani and intends to drive a stake into his heart. That man is nothing if not poison." How she hadn’t already departed was a question in itself. "Perhaps later I'll have to find her and sort it out."

"Later." Coarse kisses found their way to his ear. "I promised to make love to you."


End file.
